much impact Burke Mountain Academy’s
elevated national status will have toward
putting the resort on a path to profitability, locals are confident it will only help.

“There are a lot of good vibes aroundhere lately,” said Cathi Feeley, who’sserved as the assistant treasurer in theBurke town offices for 20 years. “Thedesignation by the U.S. Ski Team of theacademy is certainly one of them. Theacademy has helped keep that mountainafloat for many years, so anything thatmakes BMA stronger makes the moun-tain stronger, and in turn, makes thewhole town better off.”Feeley knows full well how im-portant the mountain is to life in all ofBurke: The ski area’s properties, includ-ing the hotel and conference center, weredelinquent in the payment of their prop-erty taxes in 2016 to the tune of almost$400,000. Earlier this year, Goldbergnegotiated a settlement with the town toget that tax bill paid. About three-quar-ters of that tax money is earmarked forBurke’s public schools, meaning the re-sort’s financial health is vital to the verycore of the town.

Lilias Ide, 42, grew up in Burke.
These days she serves as the marketing
manager for Kingdom Trails, a nonprofit
organization that encourages year-round
recreation in the Northeast Kingdom
and maintains a network of trails used
for fat biking, mountain biking, Nordic
skiing, and snowshoeing in and around
Burke. She said in the last few years she’s
noticed a strengthening of the relationship between the academy and the Burke
community, and as the resentment and
ill feelings wane over the soiled Quiros
deal, she thinks there’s growing, palpable
support throughout the community for
the resort as well.

“Part of Kingdom Trail’s mission is
to help promote recreation as stimulating
the economy,” Ide said. “What we’re seeing with BMA, and in a larger context,
with the direction of the ski area now